


A Ghost Between

by ncfan



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Speculation, Divorce, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-05
Updated: 2013-09-05
Packaged: 2017-12-25 17:06:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/955606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncfan/pseuds/ncfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One morning at the kitchen table, George Weasley looked at his wife and, in a moment of uncharacteristic emotional honesty, said rather desperately, "I can't do this anymore."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Ghost Between

One morning at the kitchen table, George Weasley looked at his wife and, in a moment of uncharacteristic emotional honesty, said rather desperately, "I can't do this anymore. Can you?"

Angelina drew a deep breath and squared her shoulders, before shaking her head and replying, "No. No, I can't."

They had gotten married a few years after the end of the War, a few years after Fred… after Fred died. Angelina and Fred had dated for a while in Hogwarts, never anything serious, but that, along with the friendship shared between Angelina and both twins before and after that particular short-lived relationship helped buoy the relationship between George and Angelina afterwards. And six years it had lasted. But it wouldn't anymore.

Sometimes, two people just weren't meant for each other. That would be a relatively prosaic explanation for what had happened to the marriage of George Weasley and Angelina Johnson. In another town, another country, another life, an incorrigible jokester (though not so incorrigible anymore) and a driven, no-nonsense woman would have been able to make a relationship work, but not here.

On the other hand, there was a ghost between them.

Not one of the translucent, pearly-gray ghosts you might find at Hogwarts or some other haunted locale in Wizarding Britain. Not a ghost, as wizards and witches usually found them. Perhaps it would be better to call it a specter of memory. The ghost of the memory of Fred, the wound that was his absence. There was always a gap between the living, and it had only grown wider, and now, only now, had the living realized that it wasn't going to be bridged.

But after all this time, it was refreshing, to Angelina and George, to be completely honest, and they weren't going to stop at that.

Their parents, particularly Molly Weasley, weren't at all happy when George and Angelina announced that they were getting a divorce, but there was nothing they could say that could change their children's minds. Freddy and Roxanne thought that this was _their_ fault, and needed to be reassured that no, it wasn't their fault, things just weren't working out for Mum and Dad. Angelina's sister Jessie was shocked by the idea. So were Ron and Ginny. Bill never did seem to know what to make of it. Charlie and Percy expressed sympathy in private, and made themselves scarce otherwise; they'd been making an art form out of making themselves scarce for a long time.

The agreement was reached with little fuss. George moved back into the flat above his shop, and he and Angelina got equal custody of the kids. It was like a breath of fresh air, like having a massive weight lifted off of their shoulders.

They could meet up for Christmas parties and lunch with the kids and smile and laugh at each other. When Freddy, and then Roxanne, went to Hogwarts, George and Angelina both went to Platform 9¾ to farewell them. They'd go to Roxanne's Quidditch matches together and scream encouragement in the stands. They could meet on the street and smile and talk like the friends they were.

That was it. They were fine being friends. They just couldn't take being married. Not with the ghost between them.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm fine with the idea that George and Angelina got married in Harry Potter canon (Though you'll never really sell me on Percy/Audrey). I just can't see them being able to _stay_ married, if that makes sense; I see it as something they did on impulse (or on the rebound) and realized later was a mistake.


End file.
